What makes me unhappy? Rainy days and Mondays. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Joe Wright was born in 1972 in London, where his parents ran a puppet theatre. He was dyslexic and left school with no qualifications, but went on to study fine art, film and video at Central Saint Martins. In 1997 he directed Crocodile Snap, a short BBC film, which was Bafta-nominated. In 2005 he directed his first feature, Pride & Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley. Two years later, Wright and Knightley made the movie Atonement, and in 2012 they worked together again on the film Anna Karenina. He is currently directing A Season In The Congo, at the Young Vic until 17 August. He is married to the musician Anoushka Shankar, with whom he has a son.

When were you happiest? Before I went to primary school and had to interact with other people.

What is your earliest memory? Lying in a pram, staring up at a canopy of peach trees, and not being able to reach the peaches.

Which living person do you most admire, and why? My two-and-a-half-year-old son, for his imagination.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Selfish, self-seeking.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? Cruelty.

What was your most embarrassing moment?I was drunk at an awards ceremony and a BBC executive tried to engage me in a conversation with the opener, "Didn't you once get off with a fella?" I thought it best to front it out, so I replied, "Yes, I did once. It was a fleeting thing." There was a confused silence until the executive clarified her question: "I said, didn't you once get offered Othello?"

What makes you unhappy? Rainy days and Mondays.

Property aside, what's the most expensive thing you've bought? I once chartered a private jet to get me to my wife – I missed her too much.